Parishioners Jenny Lawton (left) and Jan Ewart at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Photo / James Pocock
The future of two churches in Gisborne with a combined history of more than 265 years will be decided over the coming months after a decision to close them next year.
St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Cobden St and the historic Matawhero Church, near the Matawhero Saleyards, have undergone a “discernment process” and will close on June 30, 2026.
Discernment is a communal process involving prayers for guidance, reflection on the scriptures, and listening to one another’s views.
The closure will include the St Andrew’s church hall, a well-used community space on its property.
Parishioners Jan Ewart and Jenny Lawton have been closely involved in the Gisborne Presbyterian Parish Council for about 20 years.
They say the decision to close the churches has left them grieving, but there is also acceptance of its necessity.
“This is a big decision and made with great reluctance, but with a realistic assessment of the ability to maintain the structures of the congregation,” Ewart said in a statement on behalf of the parish council.
“In the coming months, the parish will consider what will happen with the church buildings at Matawhero and in the city. We are open to community input on how the future might protect the taonga of our past.”
Speaking to the Gisborne Herald, Ewart said there was not enough income to support a minister or maintain the buildings because of the small size of the congregation.
Ewart and Lawton estimated there were about 50 parishioners in the Gisborne parish, many past retirement age, and about 30 regularly attended gatherings at the two churches.
“We haven’t had a minister now for about three years. Financially, we can’t support a minister,” Lawton said.
The St Andrew’s building was strengthened after the 2007 earthquake thanks to community fundraising, but needed further refurbishment for plaster and roof leaks.
When asked if more fundraising had been considered, Ewart said she did not believe it would make a difference.
“It might save the buildings, but it doesn’t bring the people in, and we need the people. Everything has its season.
“You don’t need the building to come together. That is what keeps us going, I think.”
Lawton added: “We are here for the people, not the buildings, ultimately”.
Past ministers and guests from other denominations have helped with combined services between St Andrew’s and Matawhero in recent times.
“It is lovely, it has become inter-denominational, the support we’ve had,” Lawton said.
The Reverend Peter MacKenzie, of Presbytery Central, also noted the smaller, ageing congregation of the two churches as a factor in the decision to close them.
“[With] the Matawhero Church, we would celebrate the historic nature of that building and will look for a way to make sure that it is preserved, and probably looking for community support in that, too.
“We’re not rushing to make a decision. The church needs community support to protect those buildings. We are looking for a way forward.”
He said the situation of the two churches and their dwindling congregation was one faced all over the country.
“It is not just the Presbyterian Church. All of the traditional churches are struggling, so it is a sign of the context we are in at the moment.”
A 107-year-old Anglican church in Childers Rd, the Church of the Resurrection and its hall, was demolished in October last year.
St Andrew’s was built in 1913, next to an earlier wooden church built in 1874. The older church was demolished in 1954 to make way for the modern hall, which shares the Cobden St site with the church today.
The story of the Matawhero Church, a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 place of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance, is closely intertwined with Poverty Bay’s colonial history.
The building has survived intense conflict between settlers and Māori.
It was built as a schoolroom in either 1865 or 1866 with the assistance of Anglican minister William Leonard Williams.
In 1868, the schoolroom served as a military hospital for colonial forces and volunteers injured in the first encounter with Māori leader and Ringatū prophet Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki after he escaped from imprisonment in the Chatham Islands.
In November 1868, it was one of only a few buildings left standing and unharmed by Te Kooti and his troops when they raided Matawhero and Makaraka in what became known as the “Poverty Bay Massacre”.
Heritage New Zealand said many believed the building owed its survival to the spiritual significance placed on it by Te Kooti.
The Reverend George Morice bought the building in 1872 on behalf of the Presbyterian Church, and it has served as a place of worship since.
The Reverend Heningham Root was the first resident Presbyterian minister in the district, and held his first service in Matawhero in 1873.
St Andrew’s hosts regular free concerts, while the hall is often hired out for family events, educational groups, dance groups, karate and other uses.
“[The church and hall] are multi-use, so maintenance is really important,” Lawton said.